Paste shoe polish has long been applied to leather goods, such as shoes, by means of rags, brushes or fingertips dipped into an open can or container of paste wax. This prior art method of application is messy and requires that rags and brushes contaminated with polish be stored or otherwise disposed of. Staining of the hands is a problem where the polish is applied by hand, whereas a brush used to apply repeated coatings of polish becomes progressively more stiff as the polish dries, and no convenient means has yet been devised by which such a brush may be cleaned between uses. The conventional technique of polish application causes inefficient use and even wastage of polish, due to the evaporation of solvents from the wax during repeated openings of the wax container.